I'm hoping that the golf world bands together over this disaster. Perhaps those who sponsored and organized the now-cancelled JLPGA golf tournament this week, for instance, will find a way to help the Tohoku region in particular. Leadership from golfers with connections to the region can make a huge difference. Yuta Ikeda, who's playing in Doral this week, is from Chiba and captained the golf team at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai, the major city in the region that was devastated by the quake and flooding. On the JLPGA, Miki Saiki and Erina Hara attended the same private university.

Think before you give. Given Japan's resources, infrastructure, preparedness, and experience, the key is to figure out the best ways of supporting and enhancing existing relief efforts. I'm researching which Japanese relief organizations are prepared to accept international donations. More on that later.

[Update 1 (10:31 am): Beth Ann Baldry tweets that Ai Miyazato and Chie Arimura went to high school in Sendai. Here's Ai-sama's blog post. Will try to get a translation.]

4 comments:

Thoughts with everyone, but at the same time I fear that the death toll is going to escalate hideously by the time we get to the middle of next week.I've heard from some of our JLPGA caddie friends - Dean Herden, and Young Kim's Mick Gutterson - and they're all safe, fortunately.

Thanks TC for sharing your thoughts and connections (i was looking forward to your words). I was just watching NBC's Dateline report that said that there are more than 80,000 human beings unaccounted for at the moment. That is a staggering number. Now with the reactor problems making it worse, Japan is in greater need.